Welcome trend-seekers, the answer was B, mortgage rates passed through 7% this week (see updated chart from October 27th, 2022). The story below is originally from a newsletter published February 18th, 2022 when mortgage rates were 3.9%.
More bad news for buyers
If you're a prospective first-time house buyer you've had to deal with the fact that your dream home is now likely to be 15-20% more expensive than it was last year. Now your mortgage rate is likely to be higher too as average 30-year fixed mortgage rates are getting close to touching 4% in the US, the highest reading for almost 3 years.
Cooling off
Higher mortgage rates might curb demand for houses which - in theory - might cool the red hot housing market a touch. But other data shows that there was a record low supply of houses for sale, with just 860,000 previously owned homes on the market last month. Demand might fall in the future, supply already has.
